Another cloudy rainy day....Few days ago, we were still running at the backyard, taking photos, enjoying the sun............
.............and out of NO-WHERE......really no-where, Yoshi is having running nose again....how did that happen? oh please, hope it's not another round of long cold again, we had enough.........Today we met up with Ethan again. What better place to go for a cloudy unstable weather day? ---IKEA. Seems like no matter how often or how many times we are there, there is always new entertainment to be found. And the best part- what about meatballs for the meat lover?!
Question(s) of the day:
- What happen at our backyard? Looks like there was a tornado sweeping thru...
- Who were those monkeys?
- What was the green stuff Nori holding?
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Answers to be revealed in a month............
Another weekend breakfast with Nori together. This morning, Yoshi only ate half of his oatmeal, then he didn't want his. All he did was starring at Nori's rice with natto (Japanese stinky beans).
So after starring for so long which Nori could no longer ignore.....Yoshi got his taste of natto rice again.
But after just a few bites, everything was gone. Yoshi was hoping for more, but we decided to wait till lunch to give him another bowl. However, this little guy didn't want to wait, he wanted it N-O-W......and what's the best way to communicate his "demand"?
Well, here u go Yoshi.......
This was taped earlier this week. Yoshi was in GREAT mood, singing & dancing.... lately, we noticed that he is able to sing a few songs along with us. For example- every night, before bed time, I would sing Twinkle twinkle little star to him. After repeating for few months, he's able to catch up with the lyrics....this is his version: (Words in CAPS indicate what he would sing along with me)
TWINKLE TWINKLE little star, HOW I WONDER what u ARE. UP ABOVE the world so HIGH, like a diamond in the SKY. TWINKLE TWINKLE little star, HOW I WONDER what u ARE. (maybe someday I can tape it for u...)
Anyway, here is Mr. Good Mood's performance.
Most of Yoshi's videos are in Japanese. We figure out he could learn English from TV cartoon or later in school. And for Cantonese, I have not yet find any good ones that's right for his age or they might not fit the dvd player system over here. And a while ago at my friends' garage sales, I have bought many Japanese videos- mostly Shimajiro collection. They are perfect for Yoshi's age.
.....and I think it might be the oldest among his collection- debut back in 1992....
Although everytime when he watches his "oldies" collection, I can't help to laugh about the hairstyle & fashion of the actors. But to Yoshi, it didn't matter, as long as they know how to sing and dance. In fact, old or new, they teaches the similar great values, similar songs, similar dance moves and most importantly they all kept Yoshi away from the kitchen and he's HAPPY.
I guess the video had just finished, it's time for Yoshi to check out the next selection among his "oldies" collections.
Lately, I have noticed the toys at home just wasn't as entertaining as they used to be. Actually, we don't buy much toys for Yoshi (yet). Most of these are gifts. We prefer to be outdoor with him or try to be creative in our entertainment selection. Although, I must say, there were many winter days I wished we had more toys to keep him busy. Summer time is easier, we can go to park, kicking balls or just be outside, meeting friends.
But with this rainy Spring season, there are many days we just stay home, and that could be challenging. I know Yoshi is being good, there are times he could just play by himself, living in his own little imaginary world. Now that he gets older, I want to do more activities with him, like we tired cooking, drawing (with HIGH supervision), singing, dancing, reading (not to the point which he will sit still for more than 3 mins), playing....but I just felt that it's not enough. Consider we are home alone usually for 12 hrs straight before Nori comes home, and there is only 1-2 hrs nap in between.... I tried my best to limit TV time to only when I'm preparing breakfast or dinner. I do think some of the program he watches actually teaches him a lot. I want to "teach" him more, as he is like a sponge, learning the words that we taught him, but somehow my brain is not being very creative recently......if any of u have suggestions, let me know. (I do learn from reading all my friends' blog, but I need more to fill up our long long rainy days....)
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(Nora, I'm glad we finally made this trip, and I didn't postpone anymore...^_^)On Saturday, we were invited to Alexis' birthday party. Alexis and her grandparents- Joe & Cindy used to be our (GREAT) neighbours at the old house. Alexis was born right after we moved into our old house, and it's been 9 yrs since we know each other. Though we both have moved out from that neighbourhood, still we keep contact with each other. This year, her wish was to have a pony ride....and lucky her (including all the kids at the party), few animals were being invited as the party guests.
Yoshi didn't want to get onto the pony ride at all, he was grabbing hold of Nori's shirt...
So......u might wonder, how did he end up being fine? (no, he didn't ride alone, this was just a posing photo)
Here is the answer.........(Thx Alexis)
This morning, I took Yoshi to Gymboree for an art/craft class (since we have few make up classes need to be used) My original intention was to let him experience the water color art or play doh which we don't do at home (and to leave any mess at Gymboree instead of my house). At the beginning of the class, the teacher had set up few 'stations' for the kids to try out. But to my suprise, Yoshi was only interest in crayons. In fact, everytime when we go to restaurants, the servers would bring out free crayons for kids to draw on the kids menus. Perhaps crayons are what Yoshi is familiar with. No matter how I try to pull him to other stations, he had no interest. Oh well.
Today's topic is "Transportation". At the second half of the class, each kids would be able to do their own projects. 1) Balloon (tape the strings with the pre-cut shapes, draw the brown basket with a marker and glue the small papers onto the circle); 2) Glue the white 'cloud" and paint the aeroplane............Well, luckily these are simple projects that mom can still handle....the only thing Yoshi did here- drew the balloon basket with a marker. That's about it. He just had no interest in doing any of these, but rather watching other kids run around or he prefers to draw with crayons.... well, I think he likes his music class better.
Today was packed with lots of fun. We started out with Shanna's baby shower. Shanna is my good friend from the old office. She is expecting little Cade at the end of May, which will be 2 yrs younger than Yoshi.
While everyone were enjoying the present time, Yoshi was enjoying his food.
After the baby shower, we went back home and Yoshi took a good 2 hour nap. Then later tonight, we had dinner out with my other good friend Tonya and her girls- Zoe & Sedona. Perhaps because Yoshi got warm up with big crowd at lunch, suprisingly, he was fully ready to be Mr. Friendly. (of course, Zoe and Sedona have been great sisters to him, so why wouldn't he?!)
At the end of the night, Yoshi was able to say "Z-O-E" & "S-E-D-O-N-A". He absolutely had a GREAT time with the girls.
Otoosan, we miss u!!!!
Yesterday Yoshi had a very fun day with Julia & Angus (my friend Jeff's kids). They were here before Yoshi woke up, so we started out with breakfast together. Originally we planned on going to zoo, but we had rainy day, so we changed to bookstore & the mall. They certainly had fun anywhere they went.
It was really cute that no matter where we went or even sitting at the car back seat, Yoshi was very willing to hold Julia's hand. She's just like a big sister to him.
We had a great yummy lunch together at the mall. Thanks Angus & Julia, Yoshi had a really FUN day. Let's go to the zoo when summer comes.
Almost.....Yoshi's cold is almost over...hopefully (as we have been kept saying for this past month). He still has little bit running nose, but seeing more of the dried up boogers (Cecilia, hope your prediction is right). Coughing is hit and miss...
Looking at my March calender, it was filled with lots of "planned" gatherings, but then they all got crossed out with Yoshi being sick, so had to be postponed (again...and again, sorry Nora). We did go out, and meet people here and there, but not any little friends, just trying to avoid the risk of passing germs. So hopefully, all these sickness would build up a stronger immune system in his little body. To all of our little friends.....Yoshi is almost available for playtime soon....very soon.
